Midnight at McDonalds
by Jahshasha
Summary: Derek and Casey escape a dark nightclub for an overly bright McDonalds. Flirting ensues. Dasey. Rating changed because of mild course language.
1. Chapter 1

Ok, this is the first fic I've written in a long while. It's an idea that came from a discussion with a friend a few weeks ago that won't leave my head and thus had to be written. I know I'm not a great talent, but I had fun writing this, so go easy and I hope you have fun reading it.

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**Midnight at McDonalds**

It was 1:30am on a Sunday, and Derek was standing in line at McDonalds, instead of bumping and grinding with the local youth. Since reaching legal drinking age, Derek had been having far less drunken fun than he thought he would. Before, he and his underage friends were forced to do their drinking at house parties, which suited Derek just fine. There was more room, the booze was usually cheaper and there was a place to pass out when he'd had enough. But now it was like everyone expected them to go to clubs and go dancing and drinking – the dancing Derek did was usually following copious drinking - and pick up random chicks and live the wild life.

Only the clubs in Ontario didn't seem to be the same as the clubs on TV. On TV, there was actually room to dance, or at least room for Casey to dance and a place for Derek to sit and watch her move. On TV, you couldn't smell the moving bodies, which is good, because in a hot, cramped club full of drunken people, the smell was usually an oh-so-delicious mix of sweat, cheap perfume, beer, and vomit. On TV, the chick the sleazy guys were trying to feel up wasn't your step sister.

So, after hopping from club to club with his friends, each place more unappealing than the last, Derek and Casey had finally stopped off at the nearest McDonald's, ditching their friends, who seemed more than happy hanging with the unwashed.

Derek couldn't pinpoint when he and Casey became friends – or at least, a close facsimile of friends. Senior year of high school probably. After living with somebody for a few years you either become more comfortable with each other, or you kill each other. The killing each other option came pretty close a few times, but they had eventually settled into a weird little friendship, with only the occasionally major blow up. Derek was the only one who could push Casey's buttons and really make her explode, and Casey was the only one worth antagonising, because she was the best at fighting back, and this had eventually produced a mutual respect. They needed each other to keep life interesting, and to stop each other from going soft.

George and Nora were surprised, but felt it best not to poke the sleeping bear, instead leaving their oldest children to their freaky friendship, feeling comfortable knowing they could ignore the yelling and fights because now Derek and Casey could sort it out themselves. Not fighting hadn't really occurred to either of them – where was the fun in that? Besides, their fights lacked the same edge they once did. Soon, they were going to the same university – and ok with that idea – and friends with the same group of people – and again, neither of them had a problem with this.

All of which ended up with Derek and Casey, hanging out in Mickey D's at the wee hours of the morning, after having ditched their friends and the local club scene, for somewhere with real light and free chairs to sit on.

Derek finally got to the front of the line, ordering a meal for himself and Casey. By the time he had paid and received his goods, Casey had finally emerged from the toilets. As they sat down, she tried to push the cash for the meals on to him, but he waved her off. It was dumb, but he liked the idea of buying her a meal. It was sort of like they were on a date, only she had no idea, and she wasn't going to put out at the end of the night. Unfortunately.

That was another thing that had changed since their first few years as step-brother and sister; His attraction to Casey, or at least, his ability to admit his attraction to her. _There are only so many times you can 'accidentally' walk in on your step-sister changing before you have to admit that the feelings you're having aren't exactly brotherly_, he told himself. His crush on Casey really was getting out of hand; it was creepy and totally wrong. It was like he needed a copy of 'He's just not that into you' or something. Because that much was clear – she was clearly not interested. Unlike Derek, Casey had been actively involved in the college dating scene.

Derek's semi-celibacy had been a matter of some gossip their first year of college. For somebody so socially active for his entire teen life, the fact that no girl could tempt him these days rose more than a few eyebrows. But admitting he liked Casey was like a curse, one that made him unable to make out with the random female population. It was like every girl he met wasn't smart enough, or pretty enough, or as much fun to argue with. Casey, however, seemed to find nothing lacking in the boys at school. And being Casey, they _definitely_ didn't find anything lacking with her. Every Friday night, it seemed, she was out with some new boy, though none seemed to keep her interest for long. And Saturday nights were for dancing with Derek and the rest of their friends. And lately, it had been dancing for a few hours, and then junk food with Derek till way into Sunday, chatting and laughing and making Derek fall more and more in love.

So he made do with fake-dates. And the warm feeling he got when he thought about the fact that while she may kiss all those other boys she dated (he refused to entertain the possibility that they did more than this. Thinking about her kissing other boys was painful enough; the idea that any clothing was removed in the process was enough to make Derek put holes in walls.), she had a standing Saturday night date with him (and all their other friends) and he was positive she liked talking with him more.

Right now, she was babbling on about her lit class and the paper she had to write about biblical imagery in Blake. "I didn't think you really believed in God?" he asked.

"It's not about believing, it's about finding the connection to the bible – imagine the bible is just another book that Blake makes reference too – those references are what I'm trying to examine and study." She took a small bite of her burger before saying, "how did you know I don't believe in God?"

"I don't know, you just always refer to God in make-believe terms, like that debate you had with Emily on the phone a few months ago; what was it you said? 'If God did exist, I don't think he would really be too concerned with the sauce stain on your new skirt'?" A year ago he would have been petrified that sharing this attention to detail might give him away, but she was, as always, ridiculously obtuse, so he felt comfortable sharing his observations.

"I don't sound like that!" True to form, Casey _had_ ignored Derek's almost-creepy photographic Casey memory, and zeroed in on the high-pitched voice he had adopted when imitating Casey. Her outrage had caused her to raise her voice a few octaves, making her sound more like Derek's poor imitation than she usually did, much to his amusement. At his laughter, her voice got even higher "I don't!"

"I don't!" he impersonated, even higher than his original version.

"Der-ek!" The way she said his name would go on the list of his favourite sounds. He just liked that she had a special way of saying only his name. He liked that he had an extraordinary place in her world.

"Space-ey!"

She stuck her tongue out him and the childish face-making competition that followed drew many a weird look from nearby tables.

Two hours, three french fry fights, one ice fight, (that ended in Derek splashing water down the front of Casey's top, a not entirely un-pre-meditated move) and a billion casual kicks under the table later, their friends finally decided to join them. Sweaty and exhausted, they regaled them with amazing tales of broken hearts and feet. Tim, a psychology major who'd tried and failed to pick up Casey their first week of classes, spun a detailed story of love and betrayal with a 'devastatingly beautiful blonde.'

"It's funny how you managed to meet this girl, fall in love with her, impress her with your 'steller moves', 'share an amazing experience' with her in the ladies room and then lose her to a 'douche with a pink shirt' and then find a 'luscious redhead' to replace her, all in the space of time it took Mark to get turned down by only three women. Are you sure this story happened exactly as you say it did?" Casey asked.

"Abso-freaking-lutely. Would I lie to you? When have I ever told you something that wasn't 100 true?" When Casey just raised an eyebrow, he chuckled and leaned closer, "if you wouldn't be so picky, we could share our own experience, what'd'ya say? There's a bathroom right there, and if I'm not mistaken, it's cleaner than the one I was recently getting down in." At Derek's growl, he moved back, but the smirk was firmly in place. While Casey may remain blissfully unaware of Derek's crush, their friends were not so blind. They mostly stayed out of it – all of them had given up trying to convince him to make a move already, and Tim in particular found it particularly funny to hit on Casey just to make Derek mad.

Casey, used to Tim's advances, simply rolled her eyes and started gathering their trash. "Let's head home guys, it's late." As she walked to the front door she said over her shoulder, "can I crash on your couch again Derek?" Derek was renting a place off-campus that was more private than their dorm rooms and Casey crashed there occasionally after night out. Derek was half totally in love with this plan because it gave him more Casey time, and half totally against it because it made him seem like more of a creepy stalker guy and he lost sleep lying there thinking about her being asleep in the next room. Not that she hadn't slept in the room next door for years when they were teenagers, but this time there were no parents hanging around to stop him from making that move he was probably never going to make.

"Sure... that does mean you're cooking me breakfast right?"

"Oh, _absolutely_," she said sarcastically.

"You could maybe be a little more creative this time; your average omelette can be a little bland."

Casey grinned and stuck her finger up at him and kept walking. "Shut your pie hole."

He grinned back. "Pie isn't really a breakfast food, but I won't turn it down."

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TBC - Please review, I promise not to take constructive criticism the wrong way. Also, I'm not Canadian, I'm not even American, so I'm sorry for any errors based on cultural differences.


	2. Chapter 2

This part's a fair bit shorter than the last one, mainly because I wrote it tonight and I decided to post it before I went to bed. It's from Casey's POV, next chapter returns to Derek's (and to McDonald's as the setting)

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Casey woke to the light streaming through the windows. The couch at Derek's was actually quite comfortable – soft and long and plush – it's just that the curtains never stopped enough of the light to allow Casey to sleep later than mid-morning when she stayed at Derek's. It was still better than her dorm room; Casey's roommate was like Casey 6 years ago, only in a college environment where there was no friends and family bringing her down to earth. Casey had tried, but Sarah, her roommate, was too far gone. She was up at 6am every day studying – and on Sundays she slept in till gasp 8am. While she wouldn't listen to Casey telling her that she was allowed to take a break every now and again, it kept Casey sane. It was part of the reason she went out every Saturday night, and why she was willing to give almost any guy at least a chance at a date – she saw what she would have become if it wasn't for Emily and Derek and the rest of the Venturis.

After a little time channel surfing, Casey decided it was time to wake Derek, with the smell of breakfast. While she knew his comments about eggs for breakfast were a joke, she felt guilty about taking over his couch and living room and Sundays so she usually ended up making him eggs to make up for it. She still remembered how much Derek seemed to dislike her when they were teenagers and she never wanted to get back to that stage, and making him eggs on Sunday mornings seemed like an easy way of keeping their weird little friendship from exploding.

"You do realise I was just kidding about the omelette right? If this is the way you take a casual statement, I'll have to remember to think before I open my mouth... or not... that could be pretty hilarious." As predicted, the moment breakfast was almost done, Derek emerged.

"So you don't want the eggs then?" she asked, while turning around to roll her eyes at him. As soon as she faced him she stopped short; he was half naked. It was true it was unseasonably warm at the moment, and she supposed he slept in whatever felt comfortable, but still. He could have at least had the decency to put on a t-shirt or something. She felt kind of pervy every time she looked at Derek's chest. She was allowed to admit that he was built – he participated in sport and went to the gym and took reasonable care of himself so it was only natural that he should be... nicely shaped. But she shouldn't think they way she did, it went beyond simply admiring him for being aesthetically pleasing, it was classified as ogling. And they weren't like that. Even if they weren't really brother and sister, they were just friends.

"Is something wrong?" He gave her a shaky smile as he asked her. She really would have expected him to tease her had he noticed exactly what she was doing, so clearly, he didn't know. Derek wouldn't pass up a chance to mock Casey, especially if she'd been checking him out. While he hadn't been dating that much since coming to college, she didn't really think his ego had shrunk that much, and he still liked to remind her that he was hot stuff whenever he had the chance. Which probably explained WHY he wasn't wearing a shirt.

"No, nothing's wrong, are you going to eat your eggs or not?"

He took the plate she offered him with a smile, "thanks Case." He stood there looking at her for a few seconds before taking the proffered plate. He leaned close and reached around her to the cutlery draw to pull out a fork and knife, looking into her eyes the entire time. As he stared, unblinking, it occurred to her that there was something weird going on here and she should probably put a stop to it.

He was about to say something, and she was scared to death of what it could be, so she stepped to the side and started babbling about the day ahead. "So, what are your plans for today? I know I have an essay to get too, but maybe we can call up a few people and all go see a movie or something tonight – there's a few things that look good."

It worked, whatever was happening had stopped happening and she was free to leave the kitchen, which she did, as fast as she could, not thinking about the look that passed over Derek's face the moment she took that step. Because nothing had passed over his face, because that would mean... well, Casey didn't know what that would mean, but it couldn't possibly be anything good.

When Casey turned to look at Derek he was Derek again, everything back to normal. He smiled at her, "a movie sounds like fun, I'll call Tim and Mark as soon as I've eaten enough of your eggs for me to pretend they taste good."

"Like I said, you don't HAVE to eat them."

"I wouldn't want to hurt your feelings. It's ok, I can man up and stomach it. Just this once." And when he grinned at her, it was a totally Derek grin, free from any intensity that might have been in the look he gave her just seconds ago. She decided she must have imagined that whole thing. _I probably just need sleep. And to stop acting like such a Casey for once in a while_, she thought to herself.

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I love reviews. Like really, I know, it's sad, but I'm totally desperate for them.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek felt like a fool. It was not an uncommon occurrence when Casey was involved these days but some moments it was worse than others. At the moment his foolishness related to the tall blonde guy sitting next to Casey. When she'd suggested a movie that morning it had seemed like a good plan, he and Casey always had fun going to the movies – while their tastes were generally wildly different, they had fun mocking each other's movie picks and pointing out flaws. Most of the time he didn't even really hate the chick flicks she dragged him too, and she probably knew it. It was just too much fun to get under her skin. She was the same when he made her watch some beat-em-up action flick – he'd caught her getting really involved and sighing whenever the guy got the girl more than once.

The most fun they had at the movies, however, was when they both disliked the movie and would mock it together – the movie they were watching should have been perfect for that. A terrible horror movie, it had limited plot and horrible dialogue and the actors had apparently decided that putting emotion behind any of those bad lines was unnecessary. Normally, Derek and Casey's heads would have been right next to each other from moment one, pointing out every flaw they could find, but this time, she was leaning towards _Liam_, and whispering her opinions to him.

_Stupid taller-than-me pretentious ass,_ he thought to himself. What Derek really hated, besides their intertwining fingers, was that _Liam_ had the guts to actually ask out Casey. Also, that the guy was clearly a fan of solariums, if his kind-of orange skin could attest to. _What guy fake tans? _It was Mark, Tim, Sarah, Casey and himself who were the ones who went to movies together; Casey never invited other guys along. Especially not guys like _Liam_, who didn't seem to be finding the movie all that funny. _He's probably scared of this dumb movie_, Derek thought to himself.

It was really strange that she'd invited him. She had gone out with him recently but had told Derek she didn't think they would go out again. According to Casey-two-days-ago, he was pompous and full of himself. But Casey-after-their-moment-in-the-kitchen seemed to think he wasn't that bad. He had a suspicion that it was the scene in the kitchen was the cause of this unwanted intrusion to their group tonight. Casey was trying to send him a message. One that Derek had gotten long before she run away from him in the kitchen before he had a chance to tell her how he felt.

This morning was the closest he'd ever come to telling her how he felt. It was seeing her in the kitchen, and having their whole song and dance feel so natural. He ignored the fact that years spent living together as brother and sister might have had something to do with that comfortable atmosphere. After all, he didn't feel the same when he hung out with Lizzie of a morning. She had to feel something too. And she checked him out this morning, he knew that she had. And then there was the night before, when they got back to his place, and like always, had hung out watching bad TV and fighting over the remote. She wasn't like that with any other guy she knew. With him, she was natural and fun and relaxed. She got to act like herself, rather than some picture perfect fake idea of what she thought people wanted Casey to be. And he was happy with that. He liked Casey in all her forms. The fun relaxed Casey who made faces at him whenever he was on the phone to try and make him laugh, or the angry Casey who threw things at the TV when characters acted like idiots. He even liked stressed out Casey who panicked about her perfect homework not being good enough.

Derek was torn between letting things stay as they were, and telling her and being done with it. Even if she never spoke to him again, at least she would know. And at least he wouldn't have to see her with these other guys. He knew that she wouldn't be mean about it. She was Casey. But then, there was another reason not to tell her. She would just agonise about how to let him down easy. There was no way he could tell her. The knowledge wouldn't make anything better for him and it would just make her uncomfortable. There was no point.

Derek spent the rest of the movie not paying attention to the actors, but instead watching Casey and Liam's hands. By the time they left the cinema, he was ready to punch Liam. If only the pretentious loser would give him a reason.

"Man, that was awesome; did you see when he shoved that hook right through that thing's neck?" Mark asked him.

He stopped giving Liam the death-stare and faced Mark, "sure, it was an amazing movie. Totally realistic." Derek hadn't really watched the scene Mark was referring too, and he really couldn't make a judgement call on the movie's realism, but it was a good guess, and one that apparently paid off because Casey turned to both of them with a smile.

"I particularly loved the amazingly accurate depiction of a college dorm. I know my room's big enough to hold all of my high tech toys and huge designer furniture," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Derek's heart leapt – this was the first time she had paid attention to him since they had entered the cinema. "Well, technically, your dorm room is big enough to fit all of that. Because you don't really own much in the way of high tech toys and huge designer furniture."

She laughed, "but that's ONLY because I have nowhere to put it, of course."

"Of course. Really, if you wanted it, I'm sure you could have a fifty-inch plasma for your wall."

"Absolutely. The movie was completely true to life."

"And that dialogue, so natural. You could see it just rolling off the tip of the actors' tongues."

"Oh, those were actors? I thought they were wax figures. Oops, my mistake."

"Are you kidding me? Those were some Oscar winning performances. I mean, remember that one time one of them actually acted scared of that 'monster' – that took some work. You look scarier when you get up of a morning."

She advanced on him with her purse raised as if to hit him, "I'll show you scary!"

He dodged her swing with a laugh and caught her by the wrist, pulling her around so that he held her by the waist. She struggled against him, trying to break free and hit him at the same time. They continued play fighting for a few moments until Derek heard somebody clearing their throat. He looked up to see _Liam_ glaring at them with his arms crossed in front of his body.

Derek released his hold on Casey and she stepped away from him, straightening up her shirt. "Shall we all get something to eat?" she asked, as if nothing had happened.

"I was thinking maybe you and I could take a walk?" Liam asked Casey.

Sarah shot him a panicked look and waited for a few seconds before saying "no! You guys have to join us for dinner, it's, like, tradition!"

Casey looked confused, "trad-"

"Yeah, you have to come!" interrupted Tim.

Derek was about to voice his own confusion when Mark joined in the weirdness, "hey, there's a McDonalds – I've been totally craving a BigMac."

And with that, Mark and Tim began to push Casey along, separating her from Liam and Sarah grabbed Derek by the arm and pulled him into the fast-food restaurant.

"You guys, I'm really not a huge fan of McDonalds – it's really only for when you're drunk or there's nothing else open," Casey complained.

"Yo Case, you know what would be totally fun?" Mark asked. "If we went and played on the playground!" At 9:30 at night, the McDonalds playground was empty. Mark and Tim pulled Casey towards the play equipment while Liam followed helplessly.

Derek was about to follow the four of them when Sarah slapped his arm, "you moron!"

He blocked another slap, "what?"

She got one through his defences with her other arm before finally settling on standing, glaring at him, with her hands on her hips. "You were going to let her go off into the night with _Liam_?" It was comforting to know somebody else said his name like that.

"What am I supposed to do?"

She rolled her eyes, "you're her best friend – you're meant to stop her from getting too attached to tools like _Liam_. Also, you're in love with her – you couldn't fight harder to stop her from getting alone time with another guy!"

"Sarah!" His friends were usually more subtle when they talked about his completely obvious feelings for Casey.

"Oh whatever. You're in love with her, she's in love with you, even if she doesn't know it – it would all be so much easier if you would just make out already!"

"Sarah..." he sighed.

"Fine. Be that way. Let her run off and marry that loser and you can die alone and unhappy. I don't care anyway."

"Sarah!"

"Just ignore the fact that you guys could be happy, and if she ends up with that ass _Liam_, you're going to regret it for the rest-"

"SARAH!"

She blinked at him. "What?"

"She's not into me. I've accepted that, so should you. Now leave it be."

"But-"

"Leave. It. Be."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. He raised one back. He stared her down for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes so hard she should have fallen over, and stomped over to the counter to order. He had a feeling this was not over, but he would use the temporary respite to recover.


	4. Chapter 4

Casey realised she was a bitch, but she wondered if there was any way to politely tell Liam to go away and never talk to her again. He was boring. He thought he was brilliant, and he wasn't. Judging by his creepy tan, he obviously thought he was attractive, and he wasn't that hot. And he clearly thought he could kiss, and he really couldn't do that.

Normally, she would have felt comfortable telling him she wasn't interested, but she had gone out on the first two dates with him, and was all prepared to let him down if and when he ever called again, and then things with Derek had to go and get _awkward_. So when Liam called her this afternoon, she'd invited him to the movies tonight, which meant now he was walking her home, because that's what good dates did. Asking him out was a monumentally stupid idea, but it was the only thing she could think of to stop things with Derek from being so weird. Only it hadn't worked.

The entire time she sat in that cinema, her date on one side and her step-brother on the other side, she'd really only been aware of her step-brother. Her fingers were intertwined with Liam's; she was watching Derek's hand out the corner of her eye. She knew that she shouldn't be thinking about Derek's lips. Or his eyes. Or that smile he got when he was getting under her skin and he knew it. So whenever she thought of something terribly witty to say about the movie, she told Liam instead of Derek, and he would just look at her quizzically. She didn't understand how Liam couldn't get any of her jokes. Derek got them. God! She needed to stop thinking about Derek in this context.

_He's my __**brother**__. I have to keep that in mind. I have to stop thinking about his chest and his muscles and his arms and his hands,_ she thought to herself.

Her phone rang, with her caller ID saying it was Derek. Before Liam had a chance to see that, she answered it, and, making a split second decision that she might later regret, said "Emily?"

She gave Liam an apologetic look and stepped away from him.

"Why, hello Casey" said Derek in a falsetto voice.

"Oh, honey, what's wrong?"

He laughed, "so I take it you're still with _Liam_?" She hadn't missed the way he said her date's name. She would have admonished him for it, but Derek wasn't wrong to judge Liam. The guy was a toad.

Liam was looking impatient, so she knew she would have to hurry up making up the fake emergency for Emily. "Slow down sweetie and just tell me what's wrong."

"I'll tell you what's wrong, I went out to the movies with some friends tonight and one of them totally ditched us for a guy who might actually be orange."

She had to stop herself from giggling; that might blow her cover. "That sounds horrible!"

"It was. God, she's such a bitch. I don't even know why I'm still friends with her. I think it's because she's got a great ass."

"Oh Emily!"

"Her rack isn't half bad either."

Casey had to turn away from Liam so that he couldn't see her smile. "Honey, stop crying. What can I do to help?"

"I am not crying. I am a manly, manly man. And if you happen to think that I'm not an amazingly virile specimen of a man, you simply have to say, 'Derek, you're just not that manly', in the next 10 seconds. If you can't say that, I'll know you think that I'm the best a man can be."

"Sweetie, just wait a second," she turned to Liam and said, "I'm sorry Liam, my best friend is having a huge crisis. Do you mind if we cut the evening short?"

Through her phone she heard Derek say "Finally."

Liam looked a little put out, but said "sure, whatever."

"Great, I'll just catch a taxi from here. Save you the walk."

Liam, now that the chance of him getting some was taken away from him, seemed fine with the idea of not having to walk Casey home, "sure, I'll, like, talk to you another time I guess."

He leaned in a little, so Casey quickly kissed him on the cheek and said "thanks so much, buh-bye now!" and headed straight for the nearby road where she might hail a taxi. Liam, apparently not really a gentleman, didn't wait to start heading to his own place.

When she put the phone back to her ear she heard "3... 2... 1... I'm a manly man!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

"No, really. I am, I'm so manly and amazing that I'm going to let you hang out with me tonight, even after you ditched us for _Liam_."

Casey wondered if this wasn't perhaps a bad idea. "It's pretty late..."

"And neither of us has class before one tomorrow. I had to spend time with _Liam_ tonight, you have to make that up to me. Come around. Hang out with me. Bring pie."

"Pie?"

"I'm hungry. Just do it, you know you want to."

That was the problem, she really did want to. Not the part about bringing pie, but the part about spending the evening with Derek. But what about her decision to clarify the lines in their relationship? Turning up at his place at 11:30 on a Sunday night to hang out seemed to add more confusion. _Screw it_, she thought to herself. She wanted to go over to Derek's, and she was an adult. She could make her own decisions. And the good part about being a college student is that while she was an adult and could make her own decisions, nobody expected them to be the right decisions, so she could do things that might be classified as stupid. Like spend time alone at night with her step-brother that she'd been having... strange... thoughts about recently. That might be classified as stupid.


	5. Chapter 5

Casey had been acting weird. Actually, Casey had been fluctuating from acting completely insane and acting Casey insane. When she'd first arrived at his house, she'd been nervous and acting strange. For one thing, she rang the doorbell. She had a key. She'd never been afraid to use it before.

When he'd asked her about it, she'd said "I wanted to make sure you were still up."

"I invited you around, didn't I? Why would I then go to bed?" Visions of Casey joining him in bed were pushed back in his mind.

"I don't know... I just... wasn't sure..." She looked at him, unsure of herself, and then all of a sudden, it was like Casey had returned to her body. "Anyway, am I allowed in?"

He'd stepped aside and she'd swept in the room and sat daintily on his couch. That was another thing that was strange, it was like she couldn't relax and sit on the couch. Which made no sense because she'd slept on it many times. And she just kept watching him strangely. It was like she was waiting to see something, and it made Derek uneasy because he didn't know what she wanted him to do.

They'd been watching a movie for the past hour and so far Derek counted no less than six changes in Casey's personality. At first he was afraid to say something, in case she got annoyed and went home, but this was getting crazy. When he made popcorn and she didn't dig in like normal, but instead grabbed one handful and proceeded to eat it piece by piece like some high class lady, only with popcorn, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What's the deal with you tonight?"

She paled a little as she faced him. "What are you talking about?"

The scared look on his face should have warned him not to keep going, but he did it anyway. "You're acting weird. What's going on?"

She looked into his eyes for a long while, and then sighed. "It's about... this morning... or yesterday, or Sunday morning or whatever..."

Derek felt his heart start to beat faster than could be considered healthy. Casey maintained eye contact. Derek knew he intended to tell her how he felt this morning, but suddenly, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"It's so stupid. You're going to think I'm such a loser." She stopped and looked down at her hands, waiting for the joke Derek normally would have made, but he had completely lost the ability to speak. "It's just... it seemed like there was this... slightly... _oh God,_ sexual moment... or something this morning."

"Uh..." Derek opened his mouth to say something, what he would say he wasn't sure, but he couldn't seem to make a real word come out.

"I know, I'm a moron right?" She was still speaking to her hands. "It was just, you were looking into my eyes, and we were standing so close... I just felt weird is all."

"Ghh..." Derek tried again to make _something_ come out of his mouth – something that wasn't vomit – but it was like he was frozen.

"And it's like, we're step-siblings, I shouldn't be seeing something sexual in our interactions. It's so dumb. You don't see me that way, do you?"

Derek blinked at her. He had to say something. His heart was beating too fast. Surely she could hear it.

Casey finally looked up from her hands, "Derek?"

_Just say something_, he thought to himself. "I love you." _Oh-God-Oh-God-Oh-God, I just said that. I didn't just say that. I couldn't have. Oh-God-Oh-God-Oh-God._

Casey was now ghost-white. "...Because we're family... You love me like a sister..."

She was giving him an out. He knew she was stubborn enough to pretend that none of this had ever happened. All he had to do was agree with her.

"No." _Funny, that didn't sound like agreeing with her._

She looked ready to bolt, but waited on the couch.

He thought about Sarah's words from earlier. He knew that if he didn't get this out now, he'd never tell her. "I don't love you like a brother. I'm _in love_ with you. I'm crazy about you. I think about you all the time. I'm obsessed with your hair and your legs and that mole on your collarbone that I would give anything to kiss. I love the way you argue with me, and I think you might be the smartest woman in the world. I tried to read 'The Plague' last month so I could talk about it with you and you would think I'm smart enough to be with you or be around you or _whatever_."

Now that he'd started, finding words was most definitely not a problem. He'd wanted to tell her this stuff so many times but even oblivious Casey couldn't ignore what this all meant. Now she was staring at him like he was holding a knife, but this needed to be said. "You stand up for what you believe in – you're so strong and you don't even know it. You're annoyingly sweet. It's like you would do anything to help another person. And when I watch you dance, I sometimes think I would give up hockey for life just for the chance to see you naked once."

He waited. She hadn't moved.

"Casey?" he put his hand over her hand.

She stood up quickly, knocking the popcorn to the ground, and grabbed her coat. "I have to go."

"What?!" He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I have to go, it's late." Without looking at his face, she ran out the door.

Derek sank back down to the couch. His heart was still beating way too fast and he was almost positive he was going to throw up now. He grabbed his phone off the coffee table and, ignoring the time, selected Sarah's name and pressed 'Call'. It rang for quite a few rings before it was answered.

"Mrrmm, this had better be good," she answered, clearly asleep.

"You were very wrong."

"What?"

"About Casey."

"What about Casey?" She still sounded half asleep.

"I told her, and she freaked out and now I've lost my best friend and it's your entire fault."

"Wait, what?" He heard what sounded like Sarah getting out of bed, and walking into the hall. She probably didn't want to wake her roommate.

Derek was getting pissed. It wasn't Sarah's fault that it was two in the morning, but he was upset and he didn't do self-loathing, and Sarah was the easiest person to blame who wasn't Derek.

"It's not a hard concept." He was speaking slow and low, and even to his ears, it sounded like he was going to snap. "I told Casey that I'm in love with her, and she ran out of my house. You were wrong."

"Whoa." She sounded awake now. "...Derek, calm down. It takes Casey a while to process things."

"Sarah, she couldn't even look at me."

"Derek, Casey has been ignoring her feelings for a long time now, you have to give her a chance to catch up."

He put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. "What am I going to do? If she never speaks to me again, how am I meant to deal with that?"

"She'll speak to you again. Just give her time."

The urge to throw up was diminished slightly, "I really really hope so."

"Ahhh, Derek?"

"What?"

"Casey's coming towards me now, I should probably go. I'll find out where her head's at for you."

"Thanks Sarah, sorry I snapped at you."

"That's ok, I'll call you when she leaves." Derek would have felt like a teenage girl, with the gossiping and the friends passing on information, except he was so glad that she would tell him what was going on and where he stood.

He threw the phone on the couch, and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I am so screwed."

* * *

I know this is a SUCKY place to leave it, I considered not posting until I had finished the next chapter, but I figured this was a way to make me write faster, because I felt so guilty. Don't worry, next chapter is half written and in Casey's POV, and I'll explain her (totally harsh and crazy) freak out. As always, I'm a big fan of reviews.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

So this is it. I was tempted to write an epilogue set a little later, but I figured this said everything it needed to. Hope you like it, I had fun writing it.

* * *

Casey was freaking out. Sitting on Derek's couch, hearing him say those things, had made her go a little crazy. The first thing she'd done was run to Sarah's. Sarah would tell her how to deal, how to make the world stop spinning. She didn't even consider that Sarah would be asleep until she reached the hallway leading to her room, and she would have turned around, but she saw Sarah standing there, on her phone.

Sarah hung up her phone and looked expectantly at Casey.

"Derek's gone insane."

Sarah smiled at Casey, "how so?"

"He says he's in love with me! In love! With me! I mean, what the hell?"

"In love with you. Really.?"

"He's clearly insane," Casey continued.

"What makes that crazy?" Sarah was speaking in a slow, calm voice that was absolutely infuriating.

_How could Sarah not get this?_ "He's my BROTHER. Brothers don't fall in love with their sisters!" Casey actually stomped her foot as she said this.

Sarah continued on, in her annoyingly calm voice that made Casey want to punch her, "whenever I call him your brother, you immediately add the word 'step'. What happened to that?"

Casey slumped against the wall. "How could he do this to me?" she asked morosely.

"How could he fall in love with you? That's not normally a question girls ask."

"But what happens now? He's one of my best friends. How am I meant to do without that? I don't know that I can deal without him?" She slid down the wall into a sitting position.

Sarah sat down next to Casey, "you guys can't be friends anymore?"

"He's in love with me," Casey said, exasperated.

Sarah sighed, "Casey, I hate to break this to you, but Derek's been in love with you for years. The only thing that's changed is that you now know about it."

Casey's eyebrows shot up, "you knew!? How did you know? He told _you_ before he told me?"

"He didn't tell me anything, it's been very very clear for a very long time. He's been friends with you while being in love with you for so long now. I don't see why you can't be friends with him."

"He wants to see me naked; you can't really be friends with people you want to see naked."

Sarah laughed, "so you're telling me you've never _ever_ had the desire to see Derek naked?"

"No!"

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"He's my step-brother, of course I wouldn't want to see him naked!"

Sarah smirked.

"Ok, maybe I've thought about him naked a few times before..."

Sarah's smirk turned into a grin. "A few times?"

"Shut up."

Sarah continued to grin at Casey.

"He's hot, we all noticed. Whatever."

"Ok, so you're sexually attracted to Derek-"

"I never said that!" Casey interrupted.

Sarah raised her eyebrow again, "so you're sexually attracted to Derek..." when Casey grudgingly nodded, Sarah continued, "and you obviously like talking to him, because you do so like, every day, and at length. And last week you said he was really smart. And you laugh at all his jokes, so clearly you think he's funny. I fail to see how a hot, smart, funny guy that you have naughty thoughts about falling in love with you is in any way bad."

Casey sighed, "because he's _Derek_."

"... And?"

Casey visibly sagged, "and when it doesn't work out, because there's no way it can, I won't have _Derek_. And, I can't do that. I can't not have _Derek._"

Sarah didn't really have much of an answer for that.

Casey leaned her head against the wall, "this sucks. Why can't we just go back to being Derek and Casey, like we were?"

"Because Derek wants more."

Casey frowned, "and Derek has to get everything he wants?"

"Casey, honey, he's in love with you. He has been in love with you since before I met him. You can't just expect him to ignore that forever."

"Why not?" Casey whined.

Sarah took a deep breath, "you know that's not fair to him."

"Yeah, I guess so." She turned to face Sarah, "what do I do now?"

"You need to talk to Derek as soon as possible. Let him know why you freaked out and what's going on in your head. He's freaked out and scared."

Casey knew that she was right. What she had done to Derek was wrong. No matter what she was feeling when he told her how he felt, she shouldn't have just left him like that. She was meant to be his friend – if some other girl had done this to Derek, she'd beat them so bad they wouldn't be able to see straight.

The words 'some other girl' floated around Casey's head. She didn't want to admit it to Sarah, but another reason she didn't want to talk to Derek was that if Casey told him they couldn't be more than what they were, he might find that other girl. The idea of Derek with somebody else did strange things to her stomach, she was so used to him being without a girlfriend. It was so different from when they were in high school, and while she knew it was incredibly selfish, she didn't want to share him.

* * *

Casey stood at Derek's door. It was now 3:40 in the morning. She had wanted to leave this conversation till morning, but Sarah had told her all about Derek's phone call, and convinced her that she needed to go over now. There was still a light on at Derek's, but she still didn't know if she could do this right now.

Before Casey had made up her mind whether or not she was going in, the door opened. Derek was on the other side, and he didn't look terribly surprised to see Casey standing there.

"Derek..."

"Sarah called, she told me that you were coming around, and I heard a noise."

"I wanted to... I didn't... I... Derek..."

Derek looked wrecked, so different from how he looked just a short while ago when he was telling her how he felt. '_That mole against your collarbone that I would give anything to kiss'_ suddenly floated into her head.

She tried to speak again, "I don't want to... I can't..."

Derek's eyes went to the ground, "you don't want to be with me..."

She heard _'so you would think I'm smart enough to be with you'_ in her head. The idea that he didn't think he was smart enough for her seemed crazy. "I do want to be with you..." He raised his eyes to hers and took a step forward, "... but... I can't..."

He stopped, he was frozen in place a step from her. _'For the chance to see you naked once.'_ Derek, sexy, confident, built Derek, wanted to see her naked. "You can't?" he asked.

In her head, she heard Derek saying _'I love you'_ from earlier. "I haven't thought this through."

Derek's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. "I can give you time, if you need it."

"Time..." she repeated absently. There was no way her mouth would be able to say all the thoughts currently going through her head, even as fast as Casey could talk.

Derek grabbed her hand, "as much as you need. Really. I just, I can't lose you."

She looked at their joined hands, "I can't lose you either," she said. "Tonight, this morning, whatever you call it, I was going to tell you that we couldn't... be more... because I can't lose you. You mean too much to me, as a friend."

Derek squeezed her hand, "I understand that, I get it. I don't want to lose you either. We can forget it, if that's what you really want."

Sarah's voice was the one that ran through her mind now. _'That's not fair to him.'_ And it really wasn't. And Casey was fast coming to the conclusion that staying friends with Derek wouldn't be nearly as much fun as being whatever they would be if she just leant forward and kissed him. Because now that he'd put the idea in her head, she couldn't forget it. There had always been a tiny part of her that wanted Derek. Or maybe a large part of her, one that she ignored.

_I think I'm a moron,_ she thought to herself. Here was an amazing guy who was in love her. She loved spending time with him more than practically anybody else in the world. She loved him. Clearly, she loved Derek. She was just amazingly good at pushing feelings back down. She really hadn't thought this through. _How could staying just friends seem like a good idea?_ She asked herself. There was no going back. She would always be thinking about it, and she really didn't think she could cut Derek out of her life. It would be like cutting a major part of her body out, like her spleen or a part of her brain or something. They couldn't go back, and that only left moving forward.

So she moved forward. Now that he'd put the idea in her head, she couldn't get the idea of kissing Derek out of it. So she did. She stepped forward and placed her lips against Derek's. It didn't take long for him to respond, kissing her back and pulling him into her arms. _Now this is a good idea_, she thought to herself. It felt right. For the first time since they had locked eyes in the kitchen that morning, Casey's mind felt clear.

When they finally broke apart, she said to Derek, "so I'm an idiot."

He looked dazed, "what?"

"I mean, how long did it take for me to realise that you're amazing? And after you spent all that time in high school telling me so. And all the people in our school telling me so. I'm such a moron."

He still looked confused, "so, wait. What? What does this mean?"

Casey rolled her eyes. "When I kissed you just then I had a sudden burst of clarity."

Derek looked at her expectantly.

She smiled at him, "I'm in love with you. Have been for a while."

Derek blinked at her, "what? Really?"

"It's funny really, I spent so much time subconsciously convincing myself that you would never want me and we wouldn't work anyway that when you told me you loved me, I freaked. Who knew you were so much smarter than me? You worked out that we're perfect for each other all on your own, you should get a prize or somethi-"

Derek cut her off with a kiss, pulling her inside and shutting the door. Casey would explain all about her newfound clarity, and how she worked out that they might possibly work out, later. There were better things to do at this time of the morning.

Derek pulled away only to say "I love you too."

Casey rolled her eyes, "well duh, I may occasionally be a moron, but I'm still totally fabulous."

Derek laughed and kissed her again. He'd found a fun new way of shutting her up, one that they could both deal with. And it's not like Casey couldn't use it against him when he teased her.


End file.
